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Burry warns AI-fuelled tech rally may crash
Legendary American hedge fund manager Michael Burry has recommended that investors reduce their exposure to technology stocks, which have surged in an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven rally he compared to the last stages of the dot-com market bubble. Burry, best known for predicting the 2008 United States housing market collapse portrayed in The Big Short film, reportedly said stock prices were rising simply because “they have been going straight up”. “An easier way for most is to simply reduce exposure to stocks, to tech stocks in particular. For any stocks going parabolic, reduce positions almost entirely,” Burry wrote in a post on the Substack online platform. He warned that stocks may be about to crash, according to this Reuters article, which quotes him writing: "The market has jumped the shark.” The founder of Scion Asset Management said investors should “reject greed” as enthusiasm about AI and momentum-driven trading lifted company valuations, according to this CNBC article. Burry said he had "a significant leveraged short position" against a portfolio he viewed as depressed and cheap. But betting against the rally through short selling was risky and impractical for most investors, particularly as bear
Tech
How Anthropic locked in a US$900bn price tag
Anthropic has overtaken OpenAI on revenue, is days from a board decision on a US$900 billion valuation, and just secured a compute deal with its most vocal critic. Here's a rundown of its growth to-date: Sometime in the first week of April, a four-year-old lab most consumers have never heard of quietly passed the world's most recognised tech company on revenue. Anthropic - the San Francisco outfit behind the Claude model family - hit US$30 billion in annualised run-rate on April 7, edging past OpenAI's US$25 billion for the first time since ChatGPT launched in late 2022, a crossover analysts had pencilled in for August at the earliest. Going from US$1 billion in annualised revenue in January 2025 to $30 billion by April 2026 is a 30-fold expansion in 15 months - a growth arc that took Salesforce the better part of t Sources with direct knowledge of the financials put the actual figure closer to $40 billion, and a board decision on a ~$50 billion raise at a $900 billion valuation is expected this month - more than double the $380 billion set in February.Source: AzzetWhy the numbers keep climbingBehind every funding round is the same cost driver: silicon. Demand has been running ahead of Anthropic's processing capacit
Tech
Uber misses estimates, shares jump on high guidance
Uber missed earnings and revenue estimates last quarter, but shares spiked 8.5% after it issued high bookings guidance. Earnings per share (EPS) dropped 85% year-over-year to US$0.13, under LSEG-compiled estimates of $0.70. Revenue increased 14% to $13.20 billion, below estimates of $13.29 billion. “Uber is oﬀ to an exceptional start in 2026, with Gross Bookings and Non-GAAP earnings per share (EPS) at or above the high end of our guidance, despite a complex macro backdrop marked by weather disruptions, geopolitical tensions, and gas price volatility," said CEO Dara Khosrowshahi on an earnings call. Trips increased 20% to 3.6 billion last quarter. Its monthly active platform consumers rose 17% to 170 million, and its Uber One membership tier reached 50 million users. Mobility revenue fell short of expectations, however, increasing 5% to $6.80 billion. This is below StreetAccount estimates of $7.11 billion. Revenue for its delivery business was up 34% to $5.07 billion, beating estimates of $4.89 billion. Gross bookings also grew 25% to $42.82 billion. Uber’s outlook for the next quarter includes gross bookings of $56.25-27.75 billion, well above estimates of $56.17 billion. The company credited the decline in e
Tech
Apple beats estimates for Q2 earnings and revenue
Apple’s guidance topped estimates on the back of booming iPhone and Mac demand after beating sales and earnings expectations in the fiscal second quarter. Despite this, iPhones missed estimates for the second time in three quarters and was the only significant number that came up short of expectations. Wall Street expected iPhone sales to be US$57.21 billion, but they fell short at $56.99 billion. This was still a 22% jump year-over-year. Mac sales, however, came in above Wall Street's estimated $8.02 billion at $8.4 billion. “Continued strong customer demand for our products and services once again helped us achieve a new all-time high for our installed base of active devices across all major product categories and geographic segments,” Apple CFO Kevan Parekh said. Overall revenue climbed 17% to $111.18 billion, beating the LSEG consensus of $109.66 billion. It also reported earnings per share of $2.01, surpassing expectations of $1.95. The company said revenue in the June quarter is expected to jump by 14% to 17% from a year earlier, while analysts expect growth of 9.5% to $103 billion. Apple said its board authorised an additional $100 billion in stock repurchases and declared a cash dividend of 27 cents
Tech
Qualcomm handset chip sales fall, AI chips due 2026
Qualcomm’s earnings and revenue dipped last quarter as smartphone chip revenue faltered, but shares soared 13.5% in after-hours trading after it said it would begin shipping its first data centre chips later this year. Earnings per share were down 7% year-over-year to US$2.65, but above Zacks consensus estimates of $2.57. Revenue dropped 3% to $10.60 billion, missing estimates by 0.2%. “We are pleased to deliver results in line with our guidance, reflecting solid execution as we navigate a challenging memory environment,” said president and CEO Cristiano Amon. “We are in a period of profound industry transformation — the rise of AI agents is reshaping our roadmap across every platform we develop.” Revenues for its QCT segment fell 4% to $9.08 billion, largely due to a 13% fall in handset chip sales. This comes amid a decline in the smartphone market as prices for memory components surge, with global smartphone shipments down 6% in 2026’s first quarter. Its QTL segment, which includes Qualcomm’s licensing business, saw revenue increase 5% to $1.38 billion. Qualcomm’s guidance for fiscal 2026’s third quarter projects revenue of $9.2-$10.0 billion, below LSEG-compiled estimates of $10.27 billion. It also forecast QC

Tech
Meta beats estimates but user numbers drop
Meta beat revenue and earnings estimates last quarter, but active user numbers declined amid Iran’s ongoing internet blackouts. Revenue was up 33% year-over-year to US$56.31 billion, above LSEG-compiled estimates of $55.45 billion. Earnings per share were $10.44, or $7.31 excluding a $8.03 billion tax benefit, passing estimates of $6.79. “We had a milestone quarter with strong momentum across our apps and the release of our first model from Meta Superintelligence Labs," said CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Meta reported an average of 3.56 billion daily active users during the quarter. This is a 4% increase from one year ago, but a 5% drop from the previous quarter and below estimates of 3.62 billion. Zuckerberg credited the decline to the internet outages imposed by Iran’s government since January, and to the ban of WhatsApp Russia’s government ordered in February. This is the first time daily active users have fallen since Meta began reporting the metric. Meta’s income from operations rose 30% to $22.87 billion. Capital expenditures were $19.84 billion, up from $13.68 billion a year ago but under StreetAccount estimates of $27.57 billion. The company raised its 2026 capex guidance, and now expects $125-145 billion across t
Tech
Amazon earnings and revenue surpass expectations
Amazon’s first-quarter earnings and revenue were better than expected, causing the stock to rise. Revenue increased by 17% to US$181.5 billion, surpassing LSEG's expectations of $177.30 billion. This was boosted by a 28% year-over-year revenue increase in its cloud segment to $37.59 billion, marking its fastest growth in more than three years, and coming in above expectations of $36.64 billion. Net income increased to $30.3 billion, or $2.78 per share, from last year’s $17.1 billion or $1.59 per share. Earnings per share also came in ahead of LSEG's $1.64 expectation. Advertising also beat expectations of $16.87 billion, coming in at $17.24 billion. The company is also increasing its investment in AI, alongside other tech giants, after it projected its capital expenditures would reach $200 billion in 2026 in February. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has also highlighted the company’s homegrown chips business as a beneficiary of the AI boom, calling out the segment near the top of its earnings release. “We’re in the middle of some of the biggest inflections of our lifetime, we’re well-positioned to lead, and I’m very optimistic about what’s ahead for our customers and Amazon,” Jassy said in a statement. Amazon expe
Tech
Microsoft beats; capex outlook far above estimates
Microsoft beat earnings and revenue last quarter, and gave higher-than-expected capital expenditure guidance as it emphasises artificial intelligence investments. Earnings per share were up 23% year-over-year to US$4.27, above LSEG-compiled estimates of $4.06. Revenue rose 18% to $82.89 billion, passing estimates of $81.39 billion. “We are focused on delivering cloud and AI infrastructure and solutions that empower every business to eval-max their outcomes in the agentic computing era," said chair and CEO Satya Nadella. “We delivered results that exceeded expectations across revenue, operating income, and earnings per share, reflecting strong execution and growing demand for the Microsoft Cloud,” said executive vice president and CFO Amy Hood. Microsoft Cloud revenue increased 29% to $54.5 billion, with commercial remaining performance obligations soaring 99% to $627 billion. Productivity and Business Processes revenue was up 17% to $35.0 billion, and Intelligent Cloud Revenue grew 30% to $34.7 billion. Azure and other cloud services, part of Intelligent Cloud, saw revenue rise by 40%. More Personal Computing revenue fell 1% to $13.2 billion, dragged down by a 5% decrease among Xbox content and services and a 2%
Tech
Alphabet's revenue beats expectations in Q1
Alphabet’s first-quarter revenue topped expectations due to a boost in its surging cloud business. Earnings per share came in at US$5.11, which is an increase from last year’s $2.81. The company reported revenue of US$109.9 billion, surpassing LSEG's expectations of $107.2 billion. Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai said this was driven by the company’s AI experiences. “Our AI investments and full stack approach are lighting up every part of the business,” he said. “Search had a strong quarter with AI experiences driving usage, queries at an all-time high, and 19% revenue growth.” Other figures that were being watched by Wall Street included Google Cloud, YouTube advertising and Traffic acquisition costs. Google Cloud exceeded the expectation of $18.05 billion, coming in at $20.2 billion. “Google Cloud revenues grew 63% with backlog nearly doubling quarter on quarter to over $460 billion,” Pichai said. YouTube advertising fell below expectations of $9.99 billion at $9.88 billion, alongside traffic acquisition costs, which came in at $15.22, paling in comparison to expectations of $15.3 billion. This comes as YouTube subscriptions are now growing faster than YouTube ads, according to chief business